FORGET IT. IT CAN'T BE DONE.

Even now, as Mori stood in front of the clock tower of Dysis, the words echoed in his mind.

Did he really mean that? he wondered. Or that it couldn't be done if he was the one doing it?

Mori shook his head. His mind was made up. If the scribbled drawings in Ren's notebook could change what had happened — if they had even a chance at restoring Arkos­ — he had to try. And keep trying, until it worked.

The door was locked, but that had never been a problem for him before. He swung the satchel over his back and climbed, jumping between jutting columns and spires until he reached an open window, and shimmied through the gap. He brushed aside a net of cobwebs and wandered through the gloomy interior, wondering when Argent had come here last. The building sang of disuse.

Thankfully, the system room was functioning fine. Mori stood in the doorway to the grand system, his breath catching in his throat. Painfully away that the last time he'd been in a room like this, he'd destroyed it.

He took a deep breath and stepped in, letting the soft gravity carry him down through the system. The energy in here was different from the Tower of Clouds. Unfamiliar gears spun around him. Mori floated between them, trying to draw parallels between the two towers. After a long search, he figured out the section he was looking for and touched down at the edge of the core gear.

His hand slipped into his satchel and withdrew the timepiece he'd spent the night assembling. He'd had to destroy the few timepieces he'd taken to Dysis to build it — the last fragments of Arkos. They'd been some of the first he'd ever made, his first badges as a clockmaker. As they'd lain in pieces on the desk in front of him, he couldn't help but wonder if it was a fitting metaphor for the work he'd done.

Mori slotted the timepiece into the gap. The tower's gears meshed around it and connected, as if the pocket watch had been there all along. The jewels inside the watch lit up as the tower's energy surged through it.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned.

To his surprise, the traveller stood over him. The flora at her neck had changed: now soft, rounded petals spouted from her skin, pink at the tip and fading to pale white.

"You have got to stop sneaking up on me like that," Mori muttered.

Her eyes flicked to the timepiece and she tutted. "A poor clockmaker like you, trying to rebuild a tower?"

Mori tensed. "How did you—"

"Don't waste your time," she said. "It won't work."

Her words, eerily evocative of Argent's, stung. But I have to try.

"Why is it you're both so sure it won't work?" he said.

She stepped towards him. "The ability to create worlds is not something to be taken lightly," she said. "Do you truly believe you can control that kind of power?"

Mori's stared at her. Again, doubt crept its way across his mind. He'd already destroyed Arkos. The right thing to do would be to give this up and never touch another clock again. After what he'd done to the Tower of Clouds, what did he think he was doing by trying to build a new one?

"I...just want Arkos back," Mori said. "It was Ren's idea. I can't let everyone else pay for my mistake."

"Give me the core, Mori." The traveller reached for the timepiece. Red light crackled at her fingertips, making him flinch. "Before you make another one."

"Wait." Mori pulled the timepiece away. "First, you said it wouldn't work. Now you're saying it's too dangerous? It can't be both." His eyes narrowed. "What's the real reason you're trying to stop me?"

Something dark flickered in her eyes. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you. Don't make me take it from you."

He lunged for her. His arms wrapped around her legs, bringing them both down the floor. While she was down, he twisted to check on the timepiece. The notebook had said to leave it for half an hour, but time wasn't on his side. He plucked the timepiece from the system, cradling it in his hands. Its power thrummed in his palms like a living, breathing entity.

Heat flared at his back. Something slammed into him. Mori crashed back against the gear, barely managing to hold onto the timepiece. He rolled across the metal, coming to a halt on his side right at the edge of the gear.

The traveller stood over him, light flaring between her hands.

"I will ask once more," she said, her words low and cold like a knife against his throat. "Give me the core."

Mori searched for something to use as a weapon and came up short. He'd already disassembled all of his timepieces. He scrambled away, suddenly realising how vulnerable he was.

His fingers tightened around the watch, heart hammering in his chest. "You can't have it."

The light filled his vision. Something hot and electric struck his chest. The force flung him back through the air. He crashed against a large wheel and dropped through the system. His body crumpled against a core gear a few metres below.

The traveller floated to a gentle landing beside him. Red light snapped at her fingers and blazed up her arms, shimmering in her eyes. Power thrummed off her in dizzying waves. Mori tried to move, but his arms felt like paper.

"I'm trying to help," he said. "W-what if it worked? Don't you want Arkos back?"

"It doesn't matter what I want. This is beyond you."

She struck him again. Pain arced across Mori's body, choking the air from his lungs. His back arched as it ripped through him. His throat constricted until his breaths squeezed from him in hoarse, gulping gasps. Mori curled into a ball, clutching the timepiece to his chest.

Why is she doing this? Pain tore through him again and he screamed. Is rebuilding a tower really that bad?

Just give it to her, his mind told him. Arkos is already gone, why die for it now?

His grip on the pocket watch loosened.

That's it. Let it go and move on. Ren had done it. Why couldn't he?

Mori forced himself to think of the Tower of Clouds, crumbling to dust around him. Everyone on Arkos who'd died because of him. Pain dug daggers through his body in a fresh wave, but this time he welcomed it. The light, hot and sharp at his back, tore through his skin. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fingers into fists to suppress another scream. This was his retribution. Endure it and rebuild the tower. That was the only way he could fix what he'd done—

Abruptly, the light faded. Mori slumped against the ground, trembling and wheezing. Blood trailed in rivulets across the gear's surface. He couldn't move. It took all his effort to keep his eyes open. His mind was a daze, his entire body alight with pain.

Is this what they felt like...? He wondered, thinking of the world he'd left behind.

He heard urgent voices above him, some kind of skirmish. Argent's face swam into view, blurred through the haze. Cool hands slipped behind his neck, lifting his head up.

"By the Artificer," Argent said. His voice sounded so far away. "What happened to you?"

Mori tried to focus on his face, but the world tilted, blurred, and slid away from him. The last thing he registered before the pain overcame him was Ren, standing opposite him. Staring at the traveller like she'd seen a ghost.